Underworld Ascendant Backer Beta Available

Otherside Entertainment’s immersive sim Underworld Ascendant should be going live in about a month, on November 15, 2018, but if you’ve backed the game’s crowdfunding campaign, you should now have access to a playable backer beta with a taste of what to expect from the full package. Check out this post on the studio’s website to find out how to get it.

And the accompanying general development update tells us a bit about the game’s story, its voice-acting cast, monster variations, and more. An excerpt:

Over the last several months, our narrative team (writer/director Joe Fielder and writer Crispin Boyer) have been working with OtherSide Austin studio head Warren Spector to further refine and finalize Underworld Ascendant’s story. For example:

• Several new roles have been added, as we’ve expanded the population of characters within the Saurian town of Marcaul to include mediators to the Factions and more.
• The player’s nemesis Typhon is no longer a slumbering primordial nightmare, but is now an active taunting threat, full of menace and… wow, yeah, he’s actually really damn scary.
• The game now includes VO support for Memora, which are captured memories from major characters detailing important events and secrets of The Stygian Abyss. These are found as quest items in main quests and also hidden in dark and often difficult to access areas that only the clever and capable can find.
• Final recordings took place several weeks ago! Those have since been processed, implemented within the game, and delivered to our Localization team for translation.
• We are currently bearing down on locking down all in-game text, including bits of series lore and lizardman graffiti hidden throughout the lower levels of The Stygian Abyss.

Last, but not least, we’re proud to announce our phenomenal voice cast, which includes such talents as:

• STEPHEN RUSSELL – Stephen is well-known to longtime Looking Glass fans from his role as Garrett in Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age. He’s had many other memorable roles since then, such as Nick Valentine and Codsworth in Fallout 4, Corvo in Dishonored 2, and more. In Underworld Ascendant, Stephen plays Cabirus, a ghost from the series’ past who acts as your enigmatic advisor.
• IMARI WILLIAMS – A voice performer with such game credits as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and XCOM II, Imari plays Typhon, the ‘Father of Monsters,’ who was imprisoned by Zeus beneath The Stygian Abyss and the player must stop from breaking free. Imari was chosen for the role from dozens of auditions because of his incredible timing and thunderous, bone-rattling performance.
• FRYDA WOLFF – A voice talent known for her work in the Mass Effect series, World of Warcaft, XCOM 2, and more, Fryda plays Aelita, the charmingly-opportunistic Outcast who runs The Midnight Forum, a key location in Marcaul where the player chooses contracts from the Factions, trades equipment, and more.
• DAVE FENNOY – Perhaps best known to game fans for his stellar work as lead character Lee Everett in Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season 1, Dave plays Resherak, the keeper of the Memoreum, a vast repository of survival knowledge in Marcaul where the player trades their discoveries in exchange for memories of great heroes of the past.
• KERI TOMBAZIAN – A performer with credits ranging from Grand Theft Auto V to Batman: Under The Red Hood, Keri plays the two important roles in Underworld Ascendant: Saurian Mediator Haprukala AND the Expedition Faction Leader, Executor Rubric.
• LIAM O’BRIEN – A talent known for his work in Critical Role, World of Warcraft, Pillars of Eternity II, and the Mordor series, Liam helped bring to life many of our Saurian and Chthonian characters and also plays a role… we’re not discussing quite yet.
• TERRI BROSIUS – A well-known name to fans of Looking Glass games, Terri plays SHODAN in the popular System Shock series and contributed to Thief: The Dark Project, Thief: The Metal Age, Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, and Dishonored 2. She plays the role of the Deep Elf Faction Leader in Underworld Ascendant.

Our voice cast also includes the talents of SARAH ELMALEH (Gone Home, Final Fantasy XV) NEAL KAPLAN (BioShock Infinite, StarCraft II), and FRED TATASCIORE (Mass Effect, World of Warcraft) whose roles we’re also not revealing quite at this time.